First crown: American Heritage girls soccer rolls past Waterford to win first state title
-
- American Heritage players and coaches pose for a photo with the state title trophy after the 2A championship game against Waterford at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.
-
- American Heritage senior Riley Jansen passes the ball during the 2A championship game against Waterford at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.
-
- American Heritage players celebrate after scoring a goal during the 2A championship game against Waterford at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.
-
- American Heritage players celebrate after the 2A semifinal game against St. Joseph at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
-
- American Heritage sophomore Sadie Stratton brings the ball up the field during the 2A semifinal game against St. Joseph at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
-
- American Heritage freshman Ada Werner takes a corner kick during the 2A semifinal game against St. Joseph at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
The American Heritage girls soccer team took on Waterford on Oct. 1, the Patriots faced one of their toughest games of the season. They managed to eke out a 2-1 win in double overtime, but it wasn’t easy.
When it came time for the rematch, the stakes were a lot higher.
No. 1-seed American Heritage knew the No. 2-seeded Ravens would come into Saturday’s 2A state title game at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman confident they could win, so Patriot head coach Eleonor Stafford and her staff worked with their squad to be ready.
“As a team, we decided to focus on going in strong,” Stafford said. “Once the game started, we wanted to set the tone. And the girls executed and kept their composure.”
American Heritage seized control with a first-half goal from junior forward Paisley Gardner, but in the second half it looked like Waterford had a golden opportunity to equalize.
Patriot junior Carlee Vonk, however, refused to let it happen.
“It looked like it was going to go in,” Stafford said. “But Carlee just swept that ball out of there. It was headed right for the goal and everyone was like, oh, that ball is going in. But when she ran and took that ball out, it was just a moment where it’s like, oh my gosh. She really emphasized the tone that we were dominating our side. I was really proud of Carlee.”
Gardner then helped American Heritage put the game away by setting up senior Riley Jansen and freshman Ada Werner for goals as the Patriots pulled away to get the 3-0 win. The victory secured the first state championship in program history.
Stafford said she couldn’t have asked for her athletes to execute much better than they did for those 80 minutes.
“What we worked on this whole season was that if you have the ball, go shoot,” Stafford said. “Riley Jansen, our defensive midfielder and a senior, she set herself up in a good position and she just made sure to score.
“I was just proud of my girls for having the mentality that if you lose the ball, you go run after it and try to win it again. If you have the possibility to have a shot on goal, you take it. I wanted my girls to have a lot of shots on goal because it’s going to go in so at some point. I was just really happy that everyone was on the same page.”
There wasn’t much drama down the stretch, but it was still thrilling for the entire American Heritage squad when the final whistle blew and they had won the championship.
“The girls and I were very emotional because we’ve never done this,” Stafford said. “We were working hard for this. To see that we beat them and that we won state, it was like all the emotions just rushed in. It was just like one of the happiest days for us. We did something hard and we completed it. We got the outcome that we were wanting to happen.”
A lot of the credit for the win goes to the talented young Patriot players, many of whom made sacrifices to help the team be the best it could be.
“Some of our freshmen, they play club soccer and they’re not playing the position for us that they’re playing in club,” Stafford said. “Ada Werner is a defender in club but when I was puzzling out who could fit where, I had her at left wing forward. She just really executed it great. I was just really proud that the girls worked with me, and also were willing to try something different and enjoy soccer at the same time. It was fun to see that.”
But Stafford said the seniors — particularly captains Camryn Woodley and Jansen — were really the foundation of the team’s success.
“The seniors that were on the team, most of them I knew since they were sophomore when I was their assistant coach,” Stafford said. “Last year, when I became head coach, I told them that by the time they were seniors, they were going to get a state championship. So let’s work hard on this.
“I was just really happy that they kept going and they stuck through it all. They got the outcome that we talked about last year. It was very surreal.”
When asked to describe the 2024 American Heritage girls soccer team, Stafford thought for a moment before finally deciding it would be most accurate to call it a “sisterhood.”
“That friendship and camaraderie that we had really set the tone for our team this year,” Stafford said. “Without it, I don’t know where we would be. On and off the field, we are friends. They are just hard-working girls.”
